It's Us Crew Oneshots

Snowflakes [Donchard Oneshot]

The cold wind bit sharply at my red nose, my teeth chattering louder than the sounds of the icicles hidden in the trees knocking against one another every time a gust of wind erupted from the storm. Though I was wrapped tightly in a sweater, scarf, heavy jacket, and large boots, even the smallest inch of my exposed skin turned red and lit up in a scarlet cold burn. The deep snow was difficult to walk through, but Don and I trudged on, our breath visible in thick clouds even at the most minuscule exhale.

Inhaling was the worst, for the unforgiving nature of the icy breeze burned the sides of my throat and lungs. My lips were chapped and my muscles were sore from struggling through the snow. In all fairness, it wasn't even that much of a blizzard, but both Don and I had never experienced a winter as fierce as this one. Still, despite the turmoil and tiredness seeping into my bones, I sucked it up and continued on, knowing Don and I just had to travel far enough to reach a location decent enough for Dashlie to meet us halfway at our destination, pick us up in her Jeep, and drive us back to her cabin. Escaping Duni had been the easy part, but actually getting away was a chore.

Don stumbled beside me, the shorter male nearly toppling over from exhaustion, but I caught him in time. "Are you okay?" I inquired, voice more scratchy than usual. Don's breath came out as puffs of smoke, and he was trembling violently. I spotted a tree ahead that faced against the wind; it would be safe to rest there. Kicking up snow, I hefted Don back up to his feet. "C'mon, we can rest over here..."

Gloved hands gripped tightly to my jacket as Don stood, shaking. He leaned against the tree, his dark, cinnamon skin cheeks burning bright red from the subzero temperature. It had to be at least 20 degrees below freezing, and the sight of Don's running nose meeting his chapped lips and chattering teeth reminded me of my own discomfort, and I felt the coldness I had momentarily forgotten seep back in through my several layers of clothing. I held my friend up as his irregular breathing and teary, drooping eyes raised red flags in my brain. "Hey- hey, hey," I said quickly, patting his face to make him focus, "it's okay. Just don't fall asleep on me, okay? Dashlie'll kill me if you die." Don blinked and wheezed a laugh. His amber eyes came back into focus, his gaze recognizing my own once more.

"S-Sorry," stuttered Don as his teeth chattered, "it's just s-so cold." His momentary smile faded away, and his eyes welled up in frustrated tears. I was so used to seeing the younger man lack expressiveness that I was caught off-guard as Don choked on hot tears. "I'm s-sick of this. I j-just want to go h-home with D-Dashlie. I want all of us t-to finally just be... happy for once."

"H-Hey, don't cry!" I spoke, a bit flustered in trying to figure out what to do. While Don's grip loosened on my jacket as he leaned against the tree more, I removed my glove to the stinging wind and wiped away my friend's tears. He screwed his eyes shut as he struggled not to break down. In all honesty, I've never been too good with being the nice guy, but I was willing to soften up a little for my friends. I leaned closer to Don, feeling his cold face against my now stinging, red hand. "Look at me... Don't worry. We will get through this, okay?" I felt a bit lightheaded while I stared at Don. I could almost see my own reflection in his irises. Breathing in, I somehow calmed my racing heart and dazed mind. While my shivering persisted, I managed to flash a small smile past my chattering teeth. "We will get home, you got that? We just need to keep going. All that matters is that we're finally away from Duni and his awful... experiments, if I could even call them that..."

I searched Don's face; while his expression was now blank aside from his quaking, the shorter man's eyes for sure saw mine. I brushed his curly, snow-flaked, ginger hair out his face, suddenly unable to look away. "But... we're... we're safe now..." I continued. "Finally..." I managed another smile, and this time he returned the gesture with a small, closed-mouth grin. Somehow, I'd gotten closer to him, but that could've just been the snowflakes resting on my eyelashes and glasses playing tricks on me. I studied every freckle on Don's cheeks as my face warmed up a little bit, my pale skin growing more red than it had been before in the cold, winter wind.

Then, for some reason I could never explain, I closed my eyes and leaned even more closer to him until our lips were touching, earning a small, startled and muffled yelp from Don. I kissed his salty, chapped lips for no more than two seconds before pulling back, feeling a bit awkward when I saw his shocked expression. My face heated up even more, but it wasn't enough to protect me from the icy winter air. Don wiped his running nose, not breaking his wide-eyed stare with mine. I felt a pit in my stomach, and I suddenly got the awful sense that I maybe had done something wrong. "S-Sorry! I- I-I just..." I covered my stuttering mouth with my gloved hand and let go of Don's face with my numb one. "I don't know why I did that- I just thought- I mean, I always felt like- Uh" -I stepped away from him, trying to wash the stinging in my face and heart- "Sorry- I... I shouldn't have done that..."

"Dick, why are you apologizing?" Don suddenly laughed, catching me off-guard yet again. I blinked and furrowed my eyebrows, my familiar scowl returning to my face as I watched my... friend shake his head and pull his hood up. His eyes flickered up to mine, and I saw my breath softly billow out in front of me as my gaze flickered to flustered. Don's face left me speechless as he smiled. And, this time catching me by surprise, he closed his eyes and kissed me back. I felt him laugh, the hot air exhaling out of his nose before he pulled back again. I was finally able to tear my gaze away from him when Don looked down and took my hands. The snow crunching beneath us, we sat down and leaned back against the tree.

Don's violent shivering become much more prominent now that I was actually sitting next to him. I wrapped my arm around him in hopes of warming him up, but his shivering didn't stop even when I hugged him closer to me. After a long moment of quiet silence and watching the snow fall as the storm carried on, Don finally spoke up again. "I-I'm so cold..." he mumbled. I nodded and pulled him closer, the smaller man resting his head against my chest. The wind roared softly past us. "Dick... we aren't bad guys for leaving Duni alone like that, are we? Or even the rest of the people there- we couldn't save them..."

I took a moment to think on what he said. "Well, you can't save everyone, Don," I finally decided to answer. He hummed and closed his eyes. "But everyone's out here fighting for something. It depends on who you are with, I guess. Duni will still have DDawn, and I don't think the prisoners will suffer more now that practically all of the D Gang has left now. I guess, in a way, we helped everyone."

"But you don't know that," Don responded softly. I watched the snow fall for a bit and shifted my weight.

"Well, you're right, I guess. I mean, everyone could be dead. Or, DDawn could've killed Duni, or vise versa. There's a lot of possibilities that this could've turned out to be, I guess, and there's no telling what ending we got since we aren't with the people that will be facing the effects of our actions... Each person is like a snowflake-so small and insignificant when compared to the snow that lies on the ground, right? But it's each person that makes up the snow. Without you or anyone else, there wouldn't be all this snow. I mean, I guess no one will notice if one or two snowflakes are gone and melted, but it's also... comforting in a way? Yeah, it's sad that barely anyone will notice that you're gone, but it's also kind of helpful.

"I've done some pretty awful things in this life, and I often think, 'Why have I wasted my whole life making crappy mistakes like this? When will I learn?'. But I don't have to, really. In the grand scheme of things, we're all just snowflakes. We may be unique and special, or think that, but really, none of it matters when snowflakes come together to make snow. Snow is like the universe, and there's so many worlds and planets in this universe that, really, you're legacy doesn't matter. No one will notice or remember any of the crappy things you've done. No one will remember you a million years from now." I laughed and shook my head. "So, we can do what we want when we meet up with Dashlie. Knowing that none of it matters is comforting. What do you think about that, eh, Donathan?"

I smiled and looked down at Don, giving him a little nudge. I got no response other than the howls of the wind and the sound of my own breathing. Snowflakes danced in the breeze, attaching themselves to the trees, leaves, ground, or Don and I. The branches above me trembled and groaned in the breeze, and I noticed how much more shaky and cold I was. The snow beneath me was melting and starting to dampen my pants. My exposed hand no longer had feeling and was an alarming bright red, and my face and lips were stinging. I stared down at Don and shook him lightly, still waiting for his response as the winter winds brushed against us. I furrowed my eyebrows softly as my smile slightly faded.

"Donathan?"